The present invention relates to a resiliently compliant swivel bearing for vehicle parts, in particular for wheel suspension members of independently suspended vehicle wheels, and more specifically, to a vehicle swivel bearing having two-sleeve shaped bearing elements and radial clearance one inside the other and each held on different vehicle parts.
In vehicle construction, swivel bearing of the type shown in EP-OS 131,795 and JP-OS 60-107405 are usually used for resiliently compliant mounting and/or support of vehicle parts.
This known swivel bearing has two bearing elements, which are arranged one inside the other and formed by cylindrical sleeves. The elements are connected to one another by two resilient radial webs formed by elongate or kidney-shaped recesses molded into a rubber springing element.
In this conventional arrangement, the radial paths of the inner sleeve which are possible due to the elongate recesses are to be matched to the length and cross-sections of the radial webs in such a way that, in the case of maximum radial deflections of the sleeve, the webs are not overloaded by shear stress.
Since, however, in order to achieve the required radial paths, it has not been possible to design such swivel bearing with an arbitrarily large diameter, compromises must be made in construction of the swivel bearings.
The situation is essentially the same in the case of a swivel bearing constructed as shown in DE-OS 3,708,037. The elastomeric spring element is firmly adhered between two bearing elements and into which diametrically opposite elongate recesses pass axially through the space between the bearing elements and leave radial webs between the recesses. The outer bearing element is held adjacent one of the recesses of the springing element on a carrier element which can be secured to the vehicle part concerned.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to improve a swivel bearing such that, in the direction in which its inner sleeve exhibits its greatest radial displaceability, a radial resilience which is greater than the maximum possible radial deflection of the bearing sleeve in the outer bearing element is imparted to the bearing.
This object has been achieved in accordance with the present invention by connecting the outer bearing element in a resiliently compliant manner to the carrier element.
The swivel bearing construction in accordance with the present invention has the feature of in-line springing means, of which those situated outside the outer bearing element make possible an additional radial movement of the bearing which is performed jointly by both bearing elements.
The swivel bearing is particularly suitable for the swivellable articulation of a wheel suspension link or, if required, of an axle assembly on the body of a motor vehicle, offering an additional advantage of a particularly effective decoupling of noise.
In the case of a wheel suspension link, the present invention makes it possible to mount a transverse link of an independent wheel suspension in such a way that, while the track is substantially retained when driving over obstacles, greater driving comfort is achieved by impact damping. This is accomplished, for example, by cooperation of the transverse link mounted by the swivel bearing so as to be movable on one side of the correspondingly large radial paths, with a drag link engaging on the wheel carrier. The drag link, given appropriate matching of the wheel suspension, allows a longitudinal compliance of the wheel carrier to be achieved which the track alters as little as possible.